Size of Wales

Who we are

Size of Wales is a unique charity that is making Wales part of the global solution to climate change.

For decades, the “size of Wales” was used as a unit of measurement for the destruction of our most precious natural habitats. Since 2010, we have brought our nation together to turn this on its head.

Together, we work with Indigenous and local people worldwide to grow trees and protect at least 2 million hectares of tropical forests – an area the size of Wales.

We educate and inspire people in Wales to recognise the critical role Indigenous communities play in protecting the climate, biodiversity, and livelihoods.

We campaign to drive policy change and are calling for Wales to become the world’s first Deforestation Free Nation.

Our vision is to help create a future where forest communities can thrive alongside healthy tropical forests—to make our nation part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

Our culture and values

Our Guiding Principles:

• Community-focused, participatory and inclusive:
  We connect with those most marginalised and whose voices are least platformed. Our work is led by these communities and our forest partners. We aim to remove barriers and increase access. Collectively, we try to influence decision makers and address the structural inequalities that are driving the climate crisis.

• Promote justice, care and living well:
  These concepts guide the work we do, the ways we interact and the decisions we make. It relates to the fair treatment and rounded health of people – from our own team all the way to the world’s Indigenous peoples – not neglecting our planet and her forests. We know the climate crisis amplifies existing systemic inequalities, and we recognise how Wales and other Global North countries have contributed to global inequalities and excessive carbon emissions alike. Through our work, we aim to address this harmful legacy both overseas and within communities of Wales.

• Evidence based and solutions focused:
  We take an engaging and creative solutions-focused approach, basing our work on research and science including Indigenous and local knowledge.

• Focused and strategic:
  We focus our work in Wales and overseas at local, national and international level. We aspire to influence change to policy, legislation and behaviours. Our work is aligned to the Well-being of Future Generations (2015) Wales Act and international commitments to human rights laws and standards.

• Ethical and accountable:
  We strive for the highest standards of integrity, ethics, accountability and transparency in everything we do. We are informed and guided by the experiences and expertise of others and commit to embracing an inclusive approach to the work we do and how we do it.

We recognise that best practice and language continually evolves and with it so does our understanding of the world and the work we do.

We commit to reviewing our Guiding Principles as well as the behaviours and decisions that they underpin.

We commit to progression, not perfection.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Size of Wales acknowledges that racism borne from White Supremacy is a deeply rooted, pervasive, and prevalent issue in the global solidarity sector and the UK as a whole. In recognition of this — and the fact that our Wales-based team and board are almost all White — Size of Wales has begun its antiracism journey in earnest.

Across the UK and beyond, people have finally woken up to the reality that we need to proactively dismantle the many ways racism and other forms of oppression exist and are upheld to this day. Size of Wales is committed to playing a meaningful role in creating this change.

In 2022, we appointed consultants to support this work, focusing on reviewing and assessing Size of Wales’ internal operations (policies and practices) and Wales-based outreach in relation to antiracism, providing training sessions for our team and trustees. The consultants will share recommendations to improve the ways we work, reflecting best practices and learning in the sector. This will help us understand our shortcomings and areas for change. We will then set in motion an actionable plan to become an antiracist organisation and finalise an Anti-Racism Policy.

With regards to Size of Wales’ overseas partnership work, we have built decolonised practices, climate justice and a rights-based conservation approach into our 5-year Forest Strategy (2020-2025). This has informed the types of partnerships and communities we work with moving forwards. We are also committed to amplifying the voices and demands of Indigenous and local communities at an international level, who are on the forefront of the climate, nature, and deforestation crises.

Our next set of priorities is to develop more equitable ways of partnership working, directing more funding directly to on-the-ground organisations, and to shift the way we grant to our partners away from the current common practice which sustains a dynamic of unequal power. Another way of creating equitable partnerships is working with community-led projects. We acknowledge that we do not have a full understanding or expertise of what is happening on the ground and therefore rely on the knowledge, lived experience and expertise of those communities.

We recognise that there is much to be done and are committed to this work, embracing challenging and uncomfortable conversations, considering new ways of working that will dismantle current oppressive systems, and embedding antiracist and anti-oppressive practices in everything we do, both in Wales and overseas.